Only a few hours from now, we will mark the 40th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11, the spaceflight mission that delivered Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Mike Collins to the moon. I personally consider the Apollo program the greatest achievement of the human species, a feat of engineering, scientific know-how, and technological advancement that has yet to be matched or surpassed, as well as a testament to humanity’s perseverance and courage. It breaks my heart that so few people today seem to care that once, not so very long ago, mankind found a way to actually leave our planet and go somewhere else. In person, not by robotic proxy. To stand on soil that had never felt a human footprint and just… experience it. To fulfill our heritage and our destiny as explorers, just like the first hunter-gatherers who decided to walk over the hill and see what was over there. How can people not find that absolutely thrilling? And let’s not even speak of those who don’t believe we went. I never will understand how those folks can be so cynical or hold such a dim opinion of their fellow humans as to think we couldn’t possibly have figured out how to do it.
I’m just a tad too young to have experienced this amazing moment in history as it unfolded. I wouldn’t be born for two more months after Armstrong made that giant leap. And even though I’ve seen the documentaries, read the books, and grew up just generally knowing about all this stuff, it’s hard for me to imagine what it must’ve been like for my parents and other people living at that time. Fortunately at times like these, we at least have the Internet.
I’ve learned that NASA is going to begin streaming actual audio recorded during the mission, starting tomorrow morning at 6:32 central daylight time, two hours before the giant Saturn V booster rocket launched the Apollo spacecraft out of the atmosphere. The idea is that we’ll be hearing the transmissions between astronauts, ground teams, and Mission Control at the exact same moments they were broadcast in 1969. It’ll be just like being there… almost…
Details on this nifty simulation can be found in this press release. The audio will be streaming here.
The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library is hosting another similar, but more visually punchy site called WeChooseTheMoon, a reference to JFK’s famous speech that set the ball rolling inexorably toward Tranquility Base. And if you’d like a visual to go with the audio, here’s a video recording of the actual TV coverage that you would’ve seen had you been watching the tube on this morning four decades ago. The quality isn’t great, sadly, but I still defy you not to feel a tingle down your back when those mighty engines start to rumble…
Watching this video reminded me how wonderful it was watching the launches. Living in Russian as a kid, we had a whole bunch of them televised.
It was AWE and WONDER at human accomplishement. I have not seen a single launch coverage on primetime for a loooooooooooong time. Only when the tragedies struck.
Sad really that space (or near space) travel is taken for granted now.
Konstantin, I totally agree with everything you say…
Few people seem to care much anymore, and that is really sad. I believe human beings are inherently meant to be explorers, but we’re so distracted by so many things today that we’ve forgotten that fundamental part of who are. One day, we’ll remember… I hope…
I am curious though: when you say there were launches televised in Russia, do you mean launches of Russian spacecraft, or were American launches shown there too? (I’ve long wondered if the Apollo launches, in particular, aired on Russian TV, since there such a competitive thing between the two countries at the time. Would the momentous aspect of the launch have outweighed the politics?)
Mostly of course they were Russian launches, I doubt they would show American launches during cold war. But, I do remember seeing TV coverage of Challenger disaster, unfortunately I do not remember if it was shown with sorrow or gloating attached. I hope for the latter, maybe Ilya will remember more of it.
Jason, thanks for posting this, and please keep ’em coming.
I’m not at all disputing the greatness of the achievement, but your comment that it was the greatest achievement got me thinking: how do we rate that? And do the Three Loyal Readers agree? We might have an interesting discussion . . . perhaps for another entry. For example, does the achievement have to have resulted from a deliberate effort, or can it have arisen more organically–like the advent of language or agriculture?
Side-by-side pictures of Launchpad 39-A, then & now:
http://www.familygreenberg.com/index2.php/2009/07/happy-moonday/
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As I say in my post, I think the idea of exploring space has become routine now that we have folks living and working up there for months at a time. And while it doesn’t allow for as much spine tingling, I’m not so sure that it’s a bad thing…
As to Cranky Robert’s question – the greatest achievement of all time? I know I earn a propeller hat just for saying this, but I’d put in a vote for the Internet. Push-button access to real-time communication, sharing of text, voice & video, retail and institutional commerce, all around the world at (virtually) zero cost? The folks in 1969 would have considered it nothing short of magic, even though they were only five months away from inventing the Internet at the time!
Speaking of which, did you hear that the shuttle commander on the STS-127 will be Twittering throughout the mission? Seems the internet is going “where no one has gone before” too, huh?
I suppose we’re thinking at opposite ends of the spectrum–you’re thinking of culminating technologies, while I’m thinking of enabling technologies and techniques. For example, I would say language, agriculture, the wheel, the technique of producing fire, metallurgy–all of these are candidates for “greatest achievement” because they are totally novel and they enable all that comes after. That’s why I think the really interesting question is how we define “the greatest achievement,” more than what any one of us would identify as the greatest achievement.
Robert, you raise an interesting point about how we define the question, and of course you’re correct about all those early achievements being necessary to even conceive of building a rocket ship.
And Brian, I agree that the Internet is a genuine wonder (even if a huge amount of its capacity is used for nothing more than highly efficient storage and delivery of porn!).
But in my book Apollo trumps any terrestrial achievement because it involved placing human beings on another planet. Well, another planetary body, anyhow. I honestly don’t see how anything else we’ve done (so far anyhow) can compare to that.
Coming back to Robert’s suggestions, I daresay language is more of an evolutionary thing than an achievement — as far as we know, we didn’t set off to reach the goal of language — and the best archeological speculation is that the discovery of fire was essentially an accident. Could’ve happened to any reasonably intelligent creature with opposable digits and a rapidly enlarging brain. 🙂
Going to the Moon, on the other hand, was something we imagined and planned and found a way to do. Someday we’ll surpass it with a trip to Mars, or maybe even to another star system. But for now, I think it stands…
Huh, apologoies. I meant to say the former. Gloating is not what I meant.
Konstantin, I must’ve read your mind or something because I didn’t even notice your mistake! It’s ok…